These dumplings of stuffed pasta in chicken soup have a prestigious place on the Jewish menu and are usually prepared for important days such as Rosh...more

These dumplings of stuffed pasta in chicken soup have a prestigious place on the Jewish menu and are usually prepared for important days such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Photograph by Shulie Madnick, Foodwanderings.com/The Washington Post

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Dough for kreplach (a.k.a. "Jewish tortellini") is rolled and cut into squares, which are filled and folded into a triangle. Two points of the...more

Dough for kreplach (a.k.a. "Jewish tortellini") is rolled and cut into squares, which are filled and folded into a triangle. Two points of the triangle are pressed together to form the traditional shape.

Photograph by Shulie Madnick, Foodwanderings.com/The Washington Post

Photo 3/3

Kreplach soup is a staple of the Jewish holiday dinner (Passover excluded, of course).

These dumplings of stuffed pasta in chicken soup — they are likened to Chinese wonton, Turkish manta and Italian cappelletti — have a prestigious place on the Jewish menu and are usually prepared for such important days as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the festivals of Simchat Torah and Sukkot. They are sometimes served as a pasta first course with meat gravy from a roast. There are many ways to go with fillings; the chicken-liver one that follows is particularly good.

Because flours vary in weight and absorption, this pasta dough recipe begins with eggs. The flour is added gradually. (One large egg absorbs about 4 ounces of flour.)

MAKE AHEAD: The pasta dough needs to rest for 15 to 30 minutes at room temperature. You'll have half of the dough left over; to use it for noodles, cut them and let them dry for 15 minutes before dusting them with flour, covering and refrigerating for up to 4 days or freezing for up to 6 months. You'll also have leftover filling, which can be served as an appetizer with crackers and quince jam. The formed kreplach need to rest 15 minutes before cooking.

The pasta recipe is adapted from "The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey From Samarkand to New York," by Claudia Roden (Knopf, 1996). The filling recipe is from Shulie Madnick.

Ingredients

For the dough

3 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

11/2 to 2 cups flour (9 to 12 ounces), plus more for the work surface or as needed

Water (optional)

For the filling

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large onion, cut into small dice

1 pound chicken livers, sinew and fat trimmed

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

For the soup

8 cups no-salt-added, clear chicken broth, preferably homemade

Chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Steps

For the dough: To make it by hand, lightly beat the eggs with salt in a mixing bowl. Add 11/2 cups flour gradually, working it in first with a fork and then with your hands, until it is well incorporated and the mass holds together, adding some or all of the remaining flour as needed. To make the dough in a food processor, combine the eggs, salt and 11/2 cups of the flour in the processor bowl. Pulse to form a dough that holds together, adding some or all of the remaining flour as needed.

Lightly flour a work surface. Turn the dough out onto the surface, kneading for 10 to 15 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding a bit more flour if it is too sticky or a few drops of water if it is too dry. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap; let it rest for 15 to 30 minutes at room temperature.

Divide the dough into 2 balls of equal size. Flour a rolling pin, then use it to roll out each ball as thin as possible into a rectangle shape. (Alternatively, the dough can be rolled thin with a pasta machine.) Pull and stretch the dough as needed until it is uniformly almost paper-thin, without breaking it. You'll need to use half of the dough right away (while it is pliable) for this recipe; reserve the rest by first cutting it into noodles, dusting them lightly with flour, then refrigerating or freezing (see headnote).

Cut the stretched, thin dough into twenty to twenty-two 2 1/2-inch squares. To do that, you can fold the sheet of dough in half, then cut enough 2 1/2-inch-wide strips to yield the total number of squares (20 to 22). Then unfold the strips to cut the squares. (Scraps can be rolled out into a ball and rolled out again.)

For the filling: Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion, stirring to coat; cook for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is lightly caramelized.

Clear a space at the center of the pan and add the chicken livers. Season them with the salt, pepper and cumin. Increase the heat to medium; cook on each side for a few minutes, until lightly browned; they will not be cooked through.

Transfer half of the mixture to a food processor to cool; meanwhile, cook the remaining chicken livers until just done throughout. Remove from the heat to cool.

Pulse the onion-chicken liver mixture (in the food processor) until smooth; transfer to a medium bowl. This will be the filling for the kreplach.

Transfer the remaining, cooled mixture (from the pan) to the food processor; pulse until fairly smooth. Taste, and season with salt as needed. Reserve this portion for another use (see headnote).

When ready to assemble and cook the kreplach, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the filling at the center of each dough square. Fold the pasta over on the diagonal to form a triangle. Pinch the edges together to seal tightly. Bring the two longer points of the triangle together to form a ring, pressing so they stick together. (You might have filling left over; it can be cooked further and added to the remaining half-batch.)

(At this point, the kreplach can be frozen for up to 6 months in an airtight container, with parchment paper between each layer.)

Working in 4 or 5 batches, drop the kreplach into the boiling water; cook, uncovered, for 3 or 4 minutes; they will float to the top. (They are cooked separately from the soup to keep the broth from becoming cloudy.)

Meanwhile, heat the broth in a large saucepan over medium heat.

As the kreplach are done, use a slotted spoon to transfer them to the broth. Once they're all in, turn off the heat. Taste, and season lightly with salt as needed.

Ladle soup and at least 4 kreplach into each wide, shallow bowl. Sprinkle with the parsley; serve hot.